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Compass Box Art & Decadence Limited Edition
What does “Decadence” mean to you? We love the chain of association that leads to luxury, beauty, and excess. It’s highly fertile territory for art… and whisky.
Oscar Wilde wrote that “we live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.” The age in question was the late nineteenth century when the Aesthetic Movement in the art world yearned for pure visual delight.
The Aesthetic Movement gave rise to the Decadent Movement, with artists layering influences from around the world. For those of a Decadent sensibility, more was always more. The unnecessary flourish became the most important thing of all – is something delighted you, that was the only justification required for its existence.
Art & Decadence is decked out delight. We have taken glossily sweet grain whiskies and combined them with unseated malt whiskies matured in American oak barrels, sherry-seasoned butts, and malt whisky finished in not one but three varieties of dessert wine cask. Like we said, more is more.
With the Decadent Movement, art was made for the sake of art; there were no ulterior motives. Similarly. A whisky like Art & Decadence may not be strictly a necessity -and that is the whole, glorious point.
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Compass Box Canvas
This is an exceedingly colourful and vibrant Scotch whisky, thanks to a parcel of single malt re-racked into experimental barrels for three years.
Seasoned with Vino Naranja (Spanish fortified wine infused with orange peel), these unusual casks bring new shades of deliciousness to Canvas with their chocolatey richness and sticky marmalade fragrance.
Single malts from the Tomatin, Glenburgie, Glen Elgin and Imperial distilleries, all aged in American oak, bring further generous flavours of custard, honey and frangipane. Rather than restrained watercolours, this is a work in decadent oil paints.
That’s what is in the bottle. Bottled at 46% ABV
FLAVOUR PROFILE The gloriously waxy and citrusy nose is followed by forest honey and vanilla shortbread notes on the palate. Flavours of nutmeg, cardamom and chocolate intertwine in the long-lasting finish
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Compass Box Celestial The Extinct Blends Quartet
The Extinct Blends Quartet
Fashions change, and formulae suit. Blended whiskies of the 1970s, ’80s, and ‘90s are very different from today’s versions, even when the brand name remains the same. The Extinct Blends Quartet as it unfolds will reimagine four of our favorite blended Scotches from yesteryear, using some of our rarest and most idiosyncratic stocks of whisky.
Celestial
Across the four releases, we have also conjured up different regions and elements of the blended Scotch whisky world. From its beginnings with Ultramarine and the wild coasts, we end with Celestial and a headlong flight through the clouds.
The Blended Scotch Whisky from which we have drawn our inspiration for Celestial was also associated with travel, albeit of the terrestrial kind, and was born in an era that depended on horsepower in its most literal sense. Celestial boasts more pettiness than the extinct blend in question, drawing on malt whiskies from Ardbeg and Carl Ila Distilleries.
The combination of smoke and succulent fruit is truly otherworldly, depicted in the coils and columns of cloud shown on the label. A gleaming brightness is provided by malt whiskies from Glen Elgin and Pulteney distilleries, a quality we have chosen to represent with the constellations. -
Compass Box Delilah’s 30th Anniversary Limited Edition
This, our third Compass Box homage to DELILAH’S, commemorates the 30th anniversary of the legendary Chicago punk rock whisky bar.
In the 30 years that DELILAH’S has been open, it has curated thousands of events and hosted millions of folks. It’s that gathering of the parties and the people that make this bar special. It’s what makes DELILAH’S what it has evolved into – the past, the present, and whatever the future holds, the curiosities that make up DELILAH’S have been and always will stay true.
For this expression, John, Mike and James Saxon have created a blend of Scotch Whiskies that include casks covering three decades of distilling and aging. The mysterious whisky in your glass is made from Whiskies Known and Whiskies Unknown. Like the bar it celebrates, it’s the amalgam of the elements that make it so fun and tasty.
John and Mike continue to share a passion for whiskies that can be enjoyed by all and this exemplifies that ideally. When you’re in Chicago, stop by DELILAH’S for some good times and great whiskies.
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Compass Box Experimental Grain Limited Edition
A fascinating discovery, borne from the pursuit of unusual flavour and a grain whisky that’s only a pot still away from being a single malt. Smoky, sweet and curiously delicious. Compass Box Experimental Grain Whisky is a limited edition blended grain Scotch whisky bottled at 46% Alc./Vol. Bottled December 2021.
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Compass Box Flaming Heart 2022 Edition
Like metal bands, some whiskies need an audience – others command one. FLAMING HEART has always enjoyed performing to passionate fans.
Oak, smoke, and fire reunite for a seventh time, fusing pyrotechnics with deliciousness. The whisky is built around a new power trio of peated malts from the Carl Ila, Laphroaig, and Talisker distilleries, while spice from our trademark French oak custom barrels delivers both loudness and a luxurious mouthfeel.
As well as being perhaps the fruitiest FLAMING HEART of recent years, you will experience a very special encore that combines remnant stocks of Peat Monster Arcana, our release for Belgian importer The Nectar’s 15th anniversary, and a little of the 2018 version of FLAMING HEART. We love the connection to musical sampling, bringing past smoky riffs into a new arrangement.
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Compass Box Hedonism 2024 Release
Hello. Welcome to the world of Hedonism.
Created as our first whisky in 2000, Hedonism has always defied convention. It pays homage to the tradition of grain whisky distillation in Scotland while pushing the boundaries of Scotch whisky flavor and presentation.
As one of the rare 100% Scotch grain whiskies, Hedonism challenges preconceived notions, offering a window into the world of grain whiskies often overshadowed by their malt whisky counterparts. It has a soft texture on the palate, delivering flavors that dance between sweet notes of vanilla, toffee, and pastry cream.
Over the years (and perhaps due in part to our efforts), demand for high-quality grain whisky has increased throughout Scotland, making the caliber of whisky we require for Hedomisn ever harder to find. So, from 2024, Hedomisn will appear in limited quantities, released once a year, each an annual interpretation of the classic Hedonism style.
The hedonism label has always proudly featured the image of a woman – something Scotch whisky had never done before. Now, for each their own, individual way – the grace and strength that our original label illustration represented. This inaugural release features a piece by Edinburgh-based artist Stephanie New, who combines traditional Early Renaissance gilding techniques with a contemporary painterly style.
To us, Hedonism is more than a whisky. It’s an idea that transcends time and tradition in Scotch Whisky. It’s an invitation to share in the pleasures of whisky and the creative imagination. It’s the embodiment of the Compass Box ethos.
– John Glaser, Founder & Whiskymaker
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Compass Box Hedonism Felicitas
$119.99Compass Box Hedonism Felicitas pays tribute to the whisky that launched our business 20 years ago. It is intended to convey the good fortune and happiness we feel, having met and worked with so many remarkable people in our first to decades.
To create Compass Box Hedonism Felicitas, we have blended together three whiskies distilled in three different decades to create Hedonism Felicitas. Whiskies from Strathelyde, Port Dundas and North British Distilleries contribute flavours of soft apricot and Chantilly cream, passion fruit and buttery toffee.
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Compass Box Magic Cask
When we began a maturation trial in 2016, we hadn’t expected the whiskies to develop such deliciousness in so short a period of time. One-year-old malt spirit, made at a Speyside distillery famous for the robust character of its whiskies, was re-racked into first fill Oloroso-seasoned butts. Sampling them three years later, one particular cask – #2 – proved so compelling that we began to experiment. A parcel of first fill Bourbon barrels containing whisky from the now closed Imperial Distillery had sat in our sample library for some years. Though delicious in its own right, as whiskymakers we couldn’t hit on the ideal match. The much younger malt whisky from the Oloroso-seasoned cask proved the ideal means to deepen the fruity and creamy profile of this rare parcel.
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Compass Box Menagerie
WHISKY IS FULL OF LIFE. Scotland especially is home to many different species of spirit, from heavy to light, fruity to smoky, and pungent to ethereal. Certain whiskies taste that little bit wilder than others, and we have brought together some of these strange and beautiful creatures to create our MENAGERIE.
Malt whisky from the Mortlach Distillery is renowned for its complexity, but enthusiasts seek out its meaty side in particular. The parcel we have selected Burts with fruitiness, but underneath we found contrasting scents of worn leather and roast lamb.
To this we have added malt whiskies from the Deanston Distillery for their citrusy top notes and animalic, forest floor aromas. Our Highland Malt Blend – aged for a number of years in custom French oak barrels – lends a thrilling and brooding spiciness, while malt whiskies from the Glen Elgin Distillery bring exotic fruitiness and musky leather. Lastly, scents of the primordial tar pit come courtesy of malt whisky from the Laphroaig Distillery.
Rather than a raucous zoo, bringing these specimens together has created harmonious flavours and textures. Gentle notes of spiced honey, toffee and roasted peach are the flavours on which MENAGERIE’s wild creature’a leap and soar.
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Compass Box Metropolis The Extinct Blends Quartet
The Extinct Blends Quartet
Fashions change, and formulae follow suit. Blended whiskers of the 1970s, ’80s, and ‘90s are very different to today’s versions, even when the brand name remains the same. The Extinct Blends Quartet, as it unfolds, will reimagine four of our favorite blended Scotches from yesteryear, using some of our rarest and most idiosyncratic stocks of whisky.
Metropolis
For the third release in the series, we step into the Throng of a striving city. Industriousness jostles up against elaborate architecture; people and provisions from diverse places mingle; commerce meets culture.
Blended Whisky began in the metropolis, with blending Scotch with a long history and a strong link to a Sir Walter Scott novel in which a number of urban centres are referenced. Therefore, we have chosen a city as the setting for our reimagining of this oak-forward and revered whisky.
If Metropolis were an actual city, its chief thoroughfares and grand buildings would equate to the shortbread and honey notes contribute by malt whiskies from the Arberlour and Miltonduff distilleries. A parcel of blended Scotch Whisky further matured in Sherry butts brings a fatness and dried fruit richness, acting as a bridge over a river of creamy and zesty grain whisky from the Bowmore Distillery. Charming, refined, and alive with energy, Metropolis reflects the excitement and richness of life in the city.
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Compass Box Nectarosity Blended Malt Scotch
Behind the most exquisite patisseries are test kitchens of invention. Places buzzing with energy where chefs obsess over every flake of fractured crust, every curl of custard cream,
Part artistry, part alchemy, this is mastery at work. And when their experimentation creates true harmony of flavour, it has to be shared. Because generosity drives this endeavour. If nectar is the food of the gods, and joy comes from celebrating with others, then we need a new word for that irresistible urge. And that word is ‘Nectarosity’.
Process
Special American oak barrels are deployed twice. First to impart sweet spice to grain spirit, which finishes maturing in other casks. Once ‘prepared’, the barrels age malt whisky. We expertly blend these two characterful whiskies with selected others to dial up the fruit and toffee notes.
Flavour
Joyously zesty with honey, lychee, juicy apricot and pineapple. Toffee and vanilla pull off a palate takeover, with lasting flavours of cinnamon bun.
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Compass Box No Name No. 3
THE RUCHED CURTAIN RISES ON A BIG-BONED, BALLETIC, AND FLAMBOYANTLY PEATY NEW WHISKY. IT BOASTS CONSIDERABLE STAGE PRESENCE, DESPITE HAVING NO NAME.
Each installment on the No Name series has followed a common structure: one heavily-peated malt whisky dominates, tempered by malt whisky of a complementary but subtle smokiness. These are supported with unpeated malt whiskies which convey fruitiness, elegance, and spicy sweetness.
With No Name, No. 3, our sequence exploring Scotch whisky’s smoky spectrum can come to a fitting conclusion. Fans of the first No Name will recognize a strumming tarry intensity, while the fruity fragrance hinted at in No Name, No. 2 has been given a tropical makeover. Seaweedy and barbecue-scented single malt from the Laphroaig Distillery lending compelling hints of mango pineapple at the very limits of ripeness.
We feel that the pettiness of No Name, No. 3 has an operatic quality to it; vibrant and expansive, wild yet graceful, there is also considerable weight and resonance. Experience it neat, perhaps in the dark, when a little drama is called for.
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Compass Box Orchard House Blended Malt Scotch
Fruit-forward & spirit-driven
What is more universally delicious than ripe fruit? Even the greatest chefs have been known to serve a simple dish of strawberries or a single, perfect peach as a dessert.
Orchard House gathers together some of the fruitiest malts Scotland has to offer, including whiskies from the Linkwood and Clynelish distilleries; what’s more, we have sourced many of these whiskies as new spirit and laid them down in our own oak casks. This, our monument to fresh fruitiness in Scotch whisky, has been many years in the making.
When neat or poured over a large ice cube, Orchard House makes for an outstanding pre-dinner malt. It will ably partner amber and pale ales, as well as swathes of soft cheeses. Welcome to our home among the fruit trees – the door is unlocked.
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Compass Box Peat Monster Arcana
$69.99Compass Box Peat Monster Arcana is a single malt Scotch whisky that has been partially aged in custom French oak casks, non-chill filtered and bottled at 46%. Compass Box Peat Monster Arcana investigates how smoky whisky interacts with French oak. The majority of the recipe comprises waxy and delicately smoky malt whisky from the Talisker Distillery, while small amounts of malt whisky from the Ardbeg and Miltonduff Distilleries lend flavors of tarry peat and a charming fruitiness, respectively.
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Compass Box The Circle No. 2
A whisky brought to you by synaesthesia. The Circle’s Sherry-aged warmth and bright tropical aromas perfectly capture the taste of the colour coral. Made in collaboration with The Circle 2019 winner, Mannie Monaghan.